Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Love Evolved ❯ Love Evolved, The Movie, Part 1 ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Love Evolved

By Lord Tarsisk

Soyez influencé-Be influenced!

---

"On with it, LT."

"Yeah, we's tired o' waiting."

"Fine. Have at it. But be warned, this is nearing the end. Do you really want it to end? Huh? DO YOU?"

Standard disclaimers apply.

---

Love Evolved: The Movie, Part One

---

It was late, very late, and Hikari and her brother both tossed and turned in their sleep, each having nightmares of different kinds that never seemed to end. Sometimes they would shake in unison so much that their bunk bed would jerk an inch or two to the side. On the top bunk, Hikari's sweaty hair lay plastered to her face, and she rolled over again, her blankets finally tearing themselves free and falling to the floor. She moaned in pain, but didn't wake, although she shivered, wearing only a tank top and her pj bottoms.

~~~

Veemon was in terrible pain, and Hikari felt his pain as they dodged left and right through the air in their new form, avoiding blasts of lightning and jets of fire and hisses of water that shot around them, a volley of the elements that no one could hope of surviving. Even though they had started with a large team they were now alone, save for Daisuke and Tailmon, who felt equally alone in their own new form.

Suddenly there was a bang as the air around them exploded into a massive furnace of flame and liquid fire, singeing her eyebrows. They bellowed, and banked right, and found themselves flying right into the enemy that caused it, jaws open wide-

~POP~

Hikari sat up, her hair flying back and her pillow going the way of her blankets. She was covered in a thick cold sweat, and took in deep, staggered breaths, her jaw clenched to keep from crying out, eyes opened wide in fear despite the lack of light. It was the third time that night. As the room stopped spinning, she struggled around in the dark before feeling the ladder and climbing down to retrieve her pillow and blanket.

She paused as she passed Taichi on the lower bunk. His expression was pained, though she could barely see it. She heard a whisper, and thought it came from Taichi, but soon came more.

Hundreds of faces swirled around her, but she wouldn't give in, they weren't real, most were probably made up anyways. Not her fault. Tears rimmed her eyes as she made her way up the ladder again, struggling against her weak body to pull the deceivingly heavy fabrics up with her.

The pillow started to slip, and Hikari knew that if one more thing went wrong it would set off the waterworks. She clenched hard on her eyes and fists and gave one last great tug. The pillow flew up and landed on her bed, a little over the side, and she made her way into the fetal position again, slowly lulling herself to sleep under the cold blanket, and on top of the squished pillow, damp with a chilled sweat.

---

Tailmon watched from the door with a slight tinge of helplessness as Hikari struggled against gravity. Nearly as physically weak, and probably none too strong emotionally, she couldn't help her onesan. Another tear threatened her eyelids, but she clamped down hard and turned away, walking out to their balcony railing and staring at the bright city below.

Tailmon knew she wasn't doing any better than Hikari was-probably even worse, as she had been right in the middle of the violence, while Hikari had only helped on the sidelines. She wondered how Daisuke and Veemon were doing-they would be doing the worst out of all the Chosen Children.

The only body that didn't need to sleep tonight-Tokyo.

Tailmon sighed, wishing that her parents-Hikari's parents-had decided to give her a sedative as well. "Not fit for a Digimon," one had said, and now she wouldn't sleep all night. Not that Hikari would be doing any better right about now.

A car alarm went of below, and some sleepy inhabitants started yelling. Tailmon could only take so much of this; she flashed her claws and thought desperately of jumping down there and personally silencing the city. She growled, but her common sense prevailed and she closed the balcony door.

Just a little bit too loud: Hikari jumped and her pillow fell again. Tailmon sighed and watched as the cycle continued, and the alarm was too loud for the door anyways…

---

Takeru slumped over and suddenly lost contact with his mattress; with an instant jolt of stinging pain that promised a bruise or two, he opened his eyes and moaned. Loudly. He pulled and thrashed with the covers and hissed as the sun hit his exposed, enlarged pupils.

"Musuko?" his mother asked. "Son??" She poked her head, eyes wide with concern.

"I'm fine, Okaasan."

She left.

"Like hell, I'm fine." Takeru sighed and crawled to an upright position. Another day, he moaned silently.

He missed Hikari, simple as that. She had no right to leave me! He looked over to his bedside table and sighed again. The picture of his would-be lover was cracked, and fixed, and cracked again, several times over, as he debated whether to throw it out or not.

He missed Hikari. HE had left her apartment with a snarl on his lips and tears in his eyes. He'd screamed and yelled and cried all day and all night, scaring his mother. When Yamato-san had heard, he called over to help, but Takeru had only alienated him as well, as well as his father and Patamon.

Patamon… Takeru looked over to the little guy's makeshift bed, composed of pillows and a nice soft blanket. Patamon, however, was MIA, having left for the Digital World a few days ago, supposedly to give Takeru some space.

Takeru, I don't know how to help anymore-except to give you room to grieve. I think that's what you want. Get in touch if you need me, I'll be there in a flash. -Patamon. His scrawl was almost illegible. Takeru loved it, and thought it was almost cute. But the letter burned.

He'd promised to come back at a moment's notice, but so far Takeru's pleas had come back unanswered. Takeru prayed Patamon wasn't hurt, or worse-He couldn't even think of the 'or worse' part yet. But Patamon could very well be dead.

Takeru missed Patamon as well as Hikari. With only his mom for company-she wasn't much help in the end, he thought bitterly-and his brother and father living across the city, Takeru was alone for most of his afternoons now. Hikari never came over to visit, and ever since he'd hurt her, he hadn't been asked to join in any missions.

His D3 lay unused, collecting dust on his shelf beside Hikari's broken and patched photo. He slowly started climbing up and collecting himself, but it was a challenge to even put on his clothing properly these days without moral support from his mom.

"Here, honey, I got your breakfast ready," she said, after knocking. "I hope you like omelets."

It was quite evident that Takeru's mother knew he liked them. He gave a weak smile and was left alone to eat.

"I'm not your damned baby anymore," he muttered, then devoured the eggs.

---

Daisuke fought desperately with the morning sun-waking up would mean not sleeping, and if he opened his eyes he'd surely see the ruins of Primary Village, and he didn't want that. But now that he'd thought about it the images were there and there was nothing to do but get dressed and shove the world into a tiny little corner of his mind and ignore it.

He was at least good at that, even if he had no idea how to solve Vee-kun's problems, and no way to help Hikari deal with her darkness. Nope, he couldn't help his friends, but at least he could hide. Real great, Daisuke thought to himself-a dangerous thing. He looked down: Chibimon was sleeping with Daisuke's stomach as a pillow, his favorite and most comforting position. Awkward at first, but customary now, and Daisuke didn't want to move, lest he disturb the sleeper any more than normal.

He slowly turned his head and looked out the window. Saturday suns were always the best, he thought with a smile. Chibimon stirred and shook his head.

"Five more minutsh," he muttered.

"Time to get up, Chibimon."

"No!"

Daisuke smiled and threw the blankets back, and leaped out of bed. Chibimon rose through the air and landed on his head; determined not to wake up, he gave a great sigh and kept his eyes closed.

"I'm NOT waking up!"

Daisuke shrugged and headed for the shower. The hot water was relaxing, but through the screen he could hear Chibimon open the door and whine.

"I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Chibimon."

"SHO?"

Chibimon whined to deal with things, just as Daisuke joked to deal with life. At least, that was Daisuke's theory.

"Feed me."

"No!"

"FEED ME!"

"ALRIGHT!" Daisuke roared, dropping the bottle of shampoo on his toe. He screeched and felt like tearing the bottle in half, but it wasn't really hurting that much and, besides, at least Chibimon was back to normal.

Chibimon left and Daisuke finished his shower, a smile forming on his face.

---

Hikari stumbled out of the shower and fumbled with the towel. Tailmon watched her with a suspicious eye but mainly ignored Hikari and preened herself. She did, however, hear the swearing and hissing as Hikari continuously dropped the towel, smeared her make-up, and used her brother's toothbrush.

"God Damned!"

Tailmon shook her head and continued preening. While Digimon were by nature able to come to grips with the harsher realities, humans weren't. Despite all their years together, however, she couldn't come up with a single thing she could say that might make Hikari feel better.

Hikari? - What!? - Is it your time of the month?

That wouldn't have gone over well. She decided on another path.

"Hikari-chan?"

"What!?" her onesan snapped.

Tailmon pulled back her paw and sighed. "I'm so sorry."

Hikari stiffened.

"I'm so sorry all of this had to happen to you."

"Tailmon…"

"C'mon," Tailmon said, jumping onto Hikari's shoulder and hugging her. "We're going out, and I'm gonna buy you some ice cream."

Hikari tried to pull away, but Tailmon was insistent. "C'mon."

"No…"

"Hikari…" she prodded, hopping on to the floor.

"I don't want to…"

Tailmon tried to pull her ankles in the direction of the doorway, confident with her plan. "Onesan…"

"I DON'T WANT TO!" Hikari snapped and ran for her room, slamming the door. Tailmon listened as Hikari started crying again, moaning for Takeru and for her mom and dad and for Taichi and even for Veemon to help her.

A while passed, as Tailmon debated what she was supposed to do.

Tailmon slowly walked over to Hikari's room and quietly opened the door. Hikari had her eyes closed, and was silently whimpering in her sleep, dreaming of who knew what. Probably Veemon, like she had been all night.

She looked paler than normal, too. Tailmon frowned, and pressed her paw to her forehead, but soon realized she had no idea how warm a forehead was supposed to be. She looked at the clock, and sighed. It was already 11:30, and Hikari never stayed in bed past nine. It was worrying.

---

Takeru looked over at his D3, dusty beside the broken photo of his forever crush. Beside those two was the phone.

Takeru stared at the phone, like he did almost every day. He reached out for it.

He pulled his hand back, and sighed, and reached out for it again.

Back. Back out.

This is fucked, he realized, and grabbed the receiver. But what if she doesn't pick up? He let go and walked over to his bed. You have to try. He walked back over. What if Taichi-san answers? Screw Taichi, he answered himself.

Takeru continued like this for some time, negotiating with himself over whether or not he should call her. He'd already tried that a few times, and both times he'd been caught by Taichi, and refused. But he couldn't bear to see her right now, nor had he been able for a long while. It was only a few days since they'd unofficially broken up, but it seemed to Takeru to be years and lifetimes past that he'd yelled at her and ran like the coward he now knew he was.

---

Was his laptop flashing at him? Koushiro blinked several times. No, it was my imagination, he realized. Nothing yet. Not even a single possibility. Nor had there been for the past few hours. Six of them, to be precise. Nope. Nothing.

Koushiro took another sip of his coffee. His hand shook slightly, just enough to spill a little of the black drink on his shirt. Crap, he thought. He put the mug down and tried frantically to wipe it clean, but the stain only spread, and he took his hands to his hair and tried pulling it out.

Needless to say, Izumi was a little wired. And the problem of finding whomever it was that had ordered Primary Village destroyed wasn't helping. His hardware was too slow, he decided, as he started watching the little scan lines on the computer slow… and… slow… He shook his head, because the computer was flashing again, but some firm blinks rejected that possibility.

---

Deep autumn, and there are hundreds of brown and orange and yellow trees in view, and what a beautiful view it is. A soft wind blows through the vale, brushing leaves off their branches and causing a multicolored downpour of foliage. The leaves crunch under feet, and a hint of winter's approach bites at people's necks as they wander through the grove.

But something is wrong.

One of the trees isn't brown or orange or yellow, but dark gray. Leaves fall upon it and they become gray as well, darkening slowly in the rising sunlight. There are no clouds in sight, and no shadows to explain this. People become concerned, even disturbed. Suddenly the wind picks up and a handful of the deathly leaves fall, and as they land the gray splashes off of them and onto the others, graying the ground and the people who walk over them.

The winds grow stronger with the darkening trees, and one by one offending leaves connect and infect the otherwise beautiful wood. There is no orange in the vale now, nor brown or yellow. Only black, and its shades.

Something is wrong. There is no noise when they walk over the death. Only silence, and more death.

~~~

Tailmon stared wide-eyed at Hikari as her skin faded from vibrant pink to dark, soulless gray and black. She brought her paw to touch Hikari's forehead.

WISSISSISSUISSS-

There were whispers, all of a sudden, whispering nonsense and indecipherable messages, and Tailmon gasped. Something was wrong. She pulled back and was all at once afraid to touch Hikari. This wasn't a cold, Tailmon knew in a start; nor flu, pneumonia, rabies, or anything else doctors had a name for. "Hikari-chan," Tailmon said softly.

Nothing but silence.

"Hikari-chan." Tailmon was firmer. "Hikari!" She walked right up to Hikari's ear and cried out as loud as she could, "HIKARI!"

Nothing. Hikari slumped over against the wall from a sitting position. Her eyes drooped, but not before Tailmon caught a good look of the dark, lifeless orbs floating in a gray see of naught.

She jumped back. Her eyes grew even wider, while her pupils shrank to tiny pinpricks. She found that she was holding her breath, and that her teeth were chattering. Tailmon turned around and started taking rapid, short breaths.

Hikari was going back.

Tailmon should've seen it.

Hikari's grades had dropped lately, and without the support Takeru would normally give her, coupled with the lack of attention from Daisuke and the others, Hikari had started moping around, becoming more and more depressed.

Her growing bond with Veemon had started upsetting her more than it should have. Hikari denied caring at all about Veemon, and tried going for periods without thinking of him (they were unsuccessful.) Hikari longed for company, and little though she wanted to admit it, in Tailmon's mind Hikari needed to be around Veemon. He certainly wanted to help her; why she didn't accept it was beyond Tailmon.

And, of course, there was the deathly clash in Primary Village. It was one of Hikari's favorite places-or it had been. Now it was nothing. Tailmon wanted someone to pay for the damage; Hikari wanted to forget. Tailmon would never forget the pure hunger in the eyes of the Raptordramon that had nearly torn out her jugular. She heard Hikari wheeze behind her, one of her cracked ribs causing her pain.

Tailmon had to do something. She slowly left Hikari's room and made it to the kitchen and Looked at the phone. She reached out to pick it up, when a sudden ringing made her jump and bare her claws, hissing-

Ring-ring. The phone happened to be ringing. She took a deep breath and picked up the receiver. "Mo-Moshi-Moshi?"

Nothing but silence. She heard a click, and the phone went dead. Tailmon hung up then picked up the phone again, thoroughly confused. She tried dialing, but-

Her claws dangled over the number pad. She didn't even know whom to call. The parents? They would freak if the saw this, she reasoned. Taichi? At Sora's house, trying to sleep, with or without Sora. In the end, though, there was really only one number she needed to call.

---

"Place your bets… now!"

"Daishuke, can I borrow some yen?"

"Not until you pay back the thousand or so you already owe me."

"Come on, you get allowansh, but doesh anyone ever pay Veemon? No," he whined. "Pleash?"

But the game was already on, and the fatter sumo won his match.

"Damn it, Daisuke!" Veemon ignored the fact that he would've lost more money.

Daisuke smiled and shook his head. "Soda?" he offered.

Veemon nodded but stayed focused on the TV. He listened as Daisuke opened the fridge.

"What kind?"

"Cola…"

Daisuke grabbed two cans and walked back over to the living room. Veemon listened as first Daisuke swore, then went, "Ah-ah-ah!" and heard a loud thump, but Veemon ignored it. He could imagine himself watching Bonsai! with Hikari, because he knew she liked to party and gamble. At least, he hoped she did. Daisuke groaned, and Veemon asked, "You okay?"

He didn't pay attention to the answer. Daisuke hobbled over, clutching two cans in one hand while the other stroked his shoulder. "Here," he grunted.

Veemon looked away long enough to find the can and open it, but otherwise stayed fixated on the TV. Daisuke sat down beside him, and they sat silent for a few seconds.

"So…" Daisuke started.

Veemon sighed.

"How's… uh… how's it going?"

Veemon nodded. "Fine, Daishuke, just like it was the last few timesh you've asked me how it'sh going." He rolled his eyes.

Daisuke opened his can of soda and swore as it fizzed all over his face. Veemon cracked a smile and nearly fell over laughing.

"Ha ha, you baka!" Veemon laughed.

"Place your bets… now!"

"Ooh, Daisuke-kun, my best friend, can I-"

"Don't 'Daisuke-kun' me, Vee-kun." Daisuke stood, dripping from head to chest, and wandered over half blindly to the bathroom. Again, Veemon would've lost money on that bet. The skinny ones were bound to win sometime, though. With his luck, it would be the one time he betted the other way.

The phone rang. "Vee-kun, you got that?"

Veemon hobbled over to the phone.

"Moshi-Moshi?"

"Veemon-kun?"

"Hai."

"It's Tailmon. I need you to come over right away."

"Why?"

There was a short pause. "Well, it's about Hikari-chan."

"What could I do that Taichi-san couldn't?"

"She needs you."

"She doeshn't care about me, and to be honesht, I'm trying not to think about Hikari-chan."

Tailmon stopped again, but when she did respond, Veemon noticed she sounded scared. Her voice shook, and Veemon thought he heard sniffling. "She's sick. I think she's passing over again. I don't know what to do, Vee-kun."

~~~

Veemon knelt in front of her, gazing into her soulless, dead eyes-there wasn't even an iris, a pupil; just a gradient from gray to darker gray to black. He sighed. "Where are we?"

Hikari titled her head towards him, and whispered, "We are in a cave. By the Dark Ocean. I've been trapped here before, but Takeru and our Digimon saved me. But now they can't see me in the sky, and I'm not pleading for help-so they won't come for us now." She laughed softly.

~~~

"To the Dark Ocean again?"

Nothing, save for a soft sob.

"Tailmon?!"

"Yeah, the Dark Ocean. Again. But I don't know how to stop her!" Sniff. "You have to help her!"

Daisuke, dried but stained, came over and watched him.

"We'll be right there," he promised, looking Daisuke straight in the eyes. "Call the others."

Sniff. "Okay…" Click.

Veemon hung up and he and Daisuke left for Hikari's.

---

Hikari was fading, and everyone knew it. Ken was there, and so were Taichi and the younger Chosen. Their parents were kept as far from the loop as possible, to keep them from overreacting. Koushiro explained that the younger Chosen would be traveling to the Dark Ocean to try and bring Hikari back.

"Ken, you'll have to give me your D3 for a moment."

"Sure," Ken shrugged, and handed it over. His eyes never left Hikari, Daisuke, Tailmon, or Veemon.

"Can you bring us back, Kou-kun?" Miyako asked silently, no joke in her voice now.

Koushiro stayed silent and plugged away at his computer. Miyako waited patiently, then walked over to Koushiro and grabbed him by the collar. Snarling, she lifted him off his seat, barely catching the laptop. Taichi helped. "I ASKED YOU A QUESTION," she breathed, staring into his eyes with anger.

Koushiro hung there for a moment, trembling, then gave a slight nod. "You know I won't give up until you're ALL back here safely. But I can't do that with you in my face." He looked up at the two defiantly and was set back down. Immediately he went back to work.

Veemon watched it all with mild interest, and smiled a little. He looked back at Hikari.

She shimmered, barely. She was now completely gray, with black, soulless eyes and a trickle of drool forming at her lips. He lifted her collar and wiped them clean. "C'mon, Hikari-chan. Hang in there. We're coming to get you." He climbed up onto the bed and sat beside the comatose Hikari, smiling weakly, a tear at his eye. He ignored everyone's stares and looks of confusion.

"Ken, why is Veemon-san so concerned about Hikari-san?" Iori whispered, supposedly quiet enough to keep Veemon from hearing amidst the clackety-clack of the keyboard.

"Because he thinks he's in love with her-"

"Hey!"

Veemon looked and Daisuke. Daisuke continued, "If Veemon-kun says he's in love with her, then he IS."

Ken sweat-dropped, and hung his head. Veemon turned back to Hikari, trying to ignore the ignorance of the rest of the group. Yeah, he knew they couldn't understand, and he didn't blame them, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel like a freak of nature. Did Hikari even want a freak of nature coming to rescue her? Maybe, but not likely. Veemon shook his head.

Taichi shook his head and held Sora's hand. "Man," he whined, trying to joke, "get on with it. Stay, don't stay, I don't care; just make up your mind. I have to piss."

Everyone stifled a laugh, but they caught themselves short and sighed.

"At least you aren't wandering around town," he whispered. Vee watched Tailmon out of the corner of his eyes. Tailmon was still uneasy; however, she'd been the one to call him over in the first place. He reached out to feel her forehead.

"Veemon, DON'T!" Tailmon hissed, and Veemon jerked back.

He looked at her with a frown. "What? Afraid I'll infect her?"

Tailmon closed her eyes and turned around. "No, just the opposite." She sniffled.

Vee sweat dropped, and mumbled, "…sorry. I hate this."

"You think I don't trust you, Vee-kun?"

"Well…"

"Veemon, I'm ever grateful for you saving Hikari-chan's life. I'll never forget how much courage and friendship you've displayed over and over again. I… I just…"

"You can't let go, right?"

She sniffled again and shook her head, eyes still closed. Veemon hopped off the bed and came up to her. With a short sob she clamped around Veemon and hugged as she started crying. Veemon's eyes went wide, but soon he gave a weak smile and wrapped his arms around her. He stood there and held her up as she cried onto his shoulder. Quiet seconds passed and no one moved.

Tailmon took a deep breath and let go. "Thank you," she whispered, and Veemon smiled and looked her in the eyes.

"I know you care about Hikari-chan. I'll always keep her safe."

Tailmon nodded. Veemon let go as well and she walked over to Taichi, watching her feet instead of making eye contact with anyone else. Veemon kept to himself as well and climbed back up on the bed.

Daisuke wandered up to Taichi. "Taichi-san, how long do you plan on giving up your bed?"

Taichi smiled and looked down at him. "Kiss my ass." He shook his head and laughed quietly.

Veemon ignored them as Daisuke cried out in pain and fell to the floor, Taichi whistling softly and moving his leg back in position below him. He looked back to Hikari.

And started.

She was staring at him.

"Um, Koushiro-san, can she see me?"

"I don't think so," he answered absently, absorbed in the monitor.

Veemon fell silent-Hikari was trying to mouth something. He started again and the others ignored him.

"Koushiro, how long will it take for her to pass? I mean, when will we know?" Taichi asked quietly.

"I don't know. Could be hours or days from now, or it could be next second."

Hikari's expression became tense, and Veemon could hear her… sort of…

"…Vee…"

"What?" he whispered, wary of getting too close.

"…Vee…" Still too quiet to make out much of what she said.

Veemon leaned closer.

"SAVE ME-E-E-E!" she screamed, and Veemon fell to the floor. The others gasped and Tailmon started crying again, latching on to the nearest leg.

Veemon quickly jumped back up and stared at her limp body. He held onto her, to hell with infection. "How?" he demanded, but she wouldn't answer, limp in his arms. Taichi quickly grabbed her and pulled her from his grasp.

It was very quick. Hikari started dimming, then was gone.

---

They were blind.

At least, that was what the six of them-no, five of them-wait, four of them, because neither Takeru nor Hikari were there-plus their Digimon thought at first, all save for Tailmon, who was both quite adept at seeing in the dark and devoid of much thought, such was the darkness that fell upon them the instant they fell from the portal.

And unlike the Digital World, this exit did leave them thoroughly entangled.

"Umm, whose leg is stuck between mine?"

"Might be mine."

"Eww, please take it out now."

"I can't, and I rather like it there, thank you very much."

"No, your leg is the one on my butt."

"How can you be sure? Besides, I'd much rather it be over there, not on that." All the same, Hawkmon slowly pulled the offending leg off of whoever's butt it had been on and he flapped up-

THWACK!

Hawkmon groaned and fell six feet to the ground. He cried out, "I'm blind! I can't see!"

"Niisan," Miyako groaned, now free from Daisuke's body, "none of us can see. It's nighttime."

"Ah. Of course. I knew that."

And it was very dark. As their eyes adjusted, the only light they had was that from the moon far above, through the unusually low tree cover-about six feet high. The pale blue light filtered in, casting deep, blurred shadows on the four of them plus five. The trees-they were all dead, and there were a lot of them. The ground was dead as well, cold and hard beneath their feet and paws and claws and shoes. A dead branched cracked loudly under Daisuke's feet as he stood up, and the clear break echoed through the thin thicket for miles and full seconds.

"Whoa. Heavy," Daisuke commented.

Whoa. Heavy.

He whipped around, finding himself staring right at Iori, looking just as surprised as Daisuke did. As they took their first few tentative steps in the bleak new world they listened to their echoes do the same thing, mimicking them sound for sound, noise for noise. Daisuke looked up. There were no stars, nothing but a featureless moon above rapidly approaching clouds-clouds that even in the full light looked dark and menacing. He silently made a prayer that it wouldn't rain.

CRACK-BOOM! CRACK-BOOM…

The thunderhead was already in full action-through what little breaks he could spy in the tree line, the horizon would light up with pure, emotionless white light, light that listed for mere instants before plunging any pour souls in the storm into full darkness. No moonlight would pass through them.

"Daisuke-kun?" Tailmon asked. Daisuke-kun?

"Yes?" Yes?

"I'm scared." I'm scared.

"Have faith." Have faith.

"Normally I do-but now I don't. I'm scared." Normally I do…

"Sho am I, and sho ish Hikari-chan, I bet," Veemon piped in, holding onto Tailmon's shoulders and providing support. "Which ish why we need to be there for her."

Tailmon nodded, and wiped her eyes.

Daisuke smiled but looked away, as the smile turned to a pained expression. Veemon was acting so strong, and Daisuke could only wonder what would happen when his world finally came crashing down around him.

But he realized Veemon was right.

~~~

She opened her eyes, but saw nothing. She took a deep sharp breath, and they were red hot knives stabbing her through her chest. Suddenly she couldn't handle any more pain and screamed, screamed as loud and hard as she could, but this only made it worse, and she leaned over and threw up, and fell unconscious.

~~~

Daisuke shuddered, hoping that he didn't have any sort of intuition or premonition or whatever they called it. He looked down at Veemon's outline in the faint light and gave a weak smile. Then he looked around.

"Which way, Daisuke-kun?" Hawkmon asked.

Daisuke thought for a moment-a dangerous thing. "I-I don't know."

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know… CRACK-BOOM!

Daisuke clenched his fists and took several deep breaths.

"Um, why don't we try our D3s?" Iori asked quietly.

Daisuke's eyes opened wide and he blushed, instantly grateful for the darkness. "I was… I was just about to suggest that, Iori-kun."

He pulled out his D3, and pressed several buttons, then several more, then hit the thing on his knee.

His swear of frustration rose over the tree line and shot out for miles.

FUCK! swore the echo.

He let the static-filled screen fall to his side, and he hung his head.

"Now what?"

The others stayed silent. Tailmon and Veemon hung their heads; Tailmon started weeping silently on Veemon's shoulder.

Ken moved his shadow forward. "I think this might be useful for once… right?"

He held out his D3, instantly illuminating the scene around them with wholesome colors and light, and while the light served them for only a few meters, it was better than nothing. His D3 was at home; it was functioning well and even better than it had before. He shrugged. His radar was up and running, as well as his Evolution programming.

"Creepy, hey?" Miyako asked quietly.

"How Ken's D3 is the only one that works? I think we all know why, and it's no secret-sorry, Ken-kun." Daisuke said.

"No, I mean about the trees-even in the light they're totally black."

"Maybe we should try to find a way out." Ken suggested.

"Wait!" Tailmon cried out, jumping for Ken's D3. "Is Hikari on here?" She started playing with the controls.

Ken stayed silent, as did Iori and Daisuke and Miyako.

Tailmon stopped hitting buttons and locked up slowly. "She doesn't have her D3, does she?"

Veemon shook his head. "Shorry-I mean, sorry." He held it in his hand.

"Ken," Daisuke started, trying to attract attention away for Tailmon, "what's the quickest way to open air?"

---

"Ken, are you sure this is the quickest way to open air?"

"Well, that's what this thing is telling me."

"It doesn't look like this is the right way."

Veemon agreed with Daisuke. They had been walking for over half an hour, stumbling over branches and roots and listening to the eerie sounds of the dead, quiet air. Not only had the forest gotten thicker, but the thunderhead, dangerously close before, was moving towards them. Every few moments it would light up the air with light, and the ground would rumble and shake a little. The trees cast deep, piercing shadows.

"You think you know which way to go, huh? Fine. You lead the way."

Daisuke kept quiet.

Everyone was following either Ken or Tailmon, the former having a map and the latter being able to see further than ten feet in front of them. So far Veemon hadn't had to offer Tailmon any more moral support; she was doing quiet fine on her own.

"Keep moving, just keep moving towards the edge and then you'll find Hikari and be able to evolve and nothing will hurt you," she muttered to herself. She bore her claws and with a snarl slashed at the blackened bush in front of her, slicing it in a thousand tiny little pieces. She smiled and nodded, content with the display of rage. "Ken? Why the hell is it getting thicker?"

Ken balled his fists and bit his lip. "I don't know… I'm just following this thing."

"Lemme see."

Ken sighed and gave his black-on-black D3 to the cat. The group halted once more.

"Hmm…"

A slight wind picked up around them, and several black leaves fell from the dead trees' heights. The group nervously leaned about, trying to avoid them as much as they could. The soft leaves cracked when they hit the cold earth and in the silence they could hear faint echoes and reverberations for several seconds. It was very disturbing.

"Well, that's weird. I can't see anything that's on your map there." She handed the device back to Ken, and continued slashing at the offending brush. Ken followed behind her.

"There should be an opening right ahead, looks like a field or something."

"Finally," Tailmon cursed and started speeding up. She shook her head. "I don't see it."

"It's there," Ken assured them.

"I'm telling you, I can see trees for miles and miles and-AH!" she shrieked, windmilling her arms and grabbing onto the nearest person for support. Ken yelled and reached out for a branch, and the weak thing barely held them up.

For several moments no one said anything. Ken hung out from under the extended branch and Tailmon held onto his leg. The sound of rocks falling several hundred meters resounded up and around them.

"GUYS!" Ken cried, and like out of a stupor Daisuke and Miyako and Iori and their Digimon rushed forward to help them, wary of falling over the edge themselves.

"I can't reach!" Daisuke cried out, pushing his hand as far as it could go, but Ken had managed to get himself into quite the position, and since Daisuke had the longest arms out of the group including their partners he could do little to help. Ken kicked at the ground and tried to get some sort of purchase but that only eroded the cliff edge.

"Miyako!" Hawkmon tugged at her legs.

"I'm busy, Hawkmon!"

"EVOLVE ME!"

"Oh, right. Hawkmon, Evolve!"

A soft glow surrounded Hawkmon, and then dispersed.

"What?!" Hawkmon cried out.

"KEN!" Daisuke cried. "Grab my hand!"

"I can't! Wait! Wormmon!"

"I thought you would never need me." Wormmon climbed out to the edge.

"Wormmon… Evolve to… Stingmon!" And Wormmon was bathed in a great glow until he was seven feet tall and humanoid. His shoulders grew protected by massive shoulder blades, and he grew insect wings similar to Digmon's.

"Stingmon! I'm slipping!"

"Help!" Tailmon cried.

Stingmon reached out and calmly grabbed Ken's stomach and pulled the two in. Ken fell to the ground, only a few feet instead of over five hundred; he panted and held onto the dead grass with balled fists. He looked up at the Adult.

"Thanks. I thought you would've gone down and tried a valiant flight and caught me at just the last moment-"

"Why bother?"

Ken gave a weak smile and hugged Stingmon. "Don't ever leave me, buddy."

Daisuke looked out over the group, but the sound of waves crashing up against a shore caught his attention.

"Guys, I think we've found the Ocean," he said, gesturing with his hand.

"Now what?" Veemon asked.

Daisuke closed his eyes. "Give me a moment."

They waited.

"Iori, you and Submarimon go underwater and see if you can find Hikari. The rest of us will have to fly around over the shore and the Ocean. Okay?"

"Slight problem, Daisuke-only Ken can Evolve his Digimon, our D3sw aren't working." Veemon avoided Daisuke's penetrating gaze.

Daisuke swore, and the white lightening cracked to their left and illuminated their predicament for all to see-just for an instant, and then it was gone.

---

"Stingmon, you're exhausted. Devolve," Ken insisted.

Stingmon shook his head. "I can fly four humans and four Digimon down a cliff without much problem. You underestimate me."

"Then why are you dragging your feet?"

Stingmon replied by taking to the sky and flying out over the ocean as fast and as hard as he could.

Said Daisuke, "Wormmon can't swim very well with his little claws, can he?"

Ken shook his head as Stingmon realized his partner was right. "At least the water's warm."

"Try not to swallow too much of it," Daisuke suggested as Ken stripped down to his boxers and started swimming. Stingmon was having trouble maintaining altitude and was weaving this way and that way. Daisuke watched as Ken swam out and barely caught the devolving Wormmon. Actually, the water was surprisingly buoyant, and Ken had little trouble swimming them both back to shore. The swim lasted maybe ten minutes.

"You really need to start listening to us, buddy. I'm not trying to control you, but showing off doesn't cut it here. We need you; you're the only one who can evolve right now," Ken went on, and Wormmon went on, "I'm fine, you should stop depending on me so much; of course I listen, and I'm not showing off."

Daisuke mainly tuned it out, but still had to smile when the two hugged and caught up.

Iori came up beside Daisuke and his Digimon. "I wish Koushiro was here; he'd be able to fix our D3s."

"Maybe," Daisuke answered absently.

They trudged for some while and all the while the cliff retreated slowly and the CRACK-BOOMs approached far too quickly for their liking.

Tailmon shuddered.

"What's wrong?" Daisuke asked.

"I… I don't know," she answered. "Just… something's wrong."

Daisuke snorted. "Really? Of course there's something wrong," he said, trying hard not to be sarcastic. "We're stuck in a Dark parallel World that's totally foreign and dangerous, with no light, no defense, no way to know if we're going the right way, and no way to know if Hikari's still even alive-"

"Hikari-chan's still alive," Tailmon whispered. "I can feel it."

"-And, it looks like we're about to get fried, by the look of those storms." He pointed. "But, yeah, I think something's wrong too."

Tailmon kicked him in the shin and shook her head. "No, I think something's wrong… something close."

"What do you mean?" Veemon asked.

"Like… movement near us. Someone's coming."

Daisuke stopped trudging and pressed close to the cliff wall, finding instead another wall of trees. The group stopped behind him. "Wasn't there a cliff here just a minute ago?"

Iori shook his head and pointed. "It fell away a few moments back."

"Why did we stop, Dai-"

Daisuke held up his hand and Ken fell silent.

No one moved, but all they heard were the distant rumblings of the multi-kilometer tall thunderheads that would illuminate the area for fractions of a second.

Veemon ball his fists and bent at the knees. Tailmon bore her razor sharp claws and fangs that Daisuke knew all too well.

Something rustled to the left, and as one they turned around, but it was only the gathering wind. There was a CRACK-BOOM! in the not-too-far distance. They sighed. "I guess it was nothing," Miyako muttered.

Veemon untensed, and Tailmon retracted.

CRACK-BOOM!

Daisuke exhaled and smiled a little-

Then screamed in agony as something sharp dug into his back. He fell forward and his pace planted, hard, on the coarse sand. The something started clawing at his back, but Veemon attacked it with a head-butt and Tailmon used her claws. The something yelped and ran off, skinny and starved. Daisuke coughed up sand as he pulled his head up from the sand.

"I hate it here. Anyone else watching us, Tailmon? You seem to know."

Tailmon shook her head, and turned away, avoiding their gazes. Ken helped him stand and leaned in.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." He turned around. "How's my back?"

Ken looked under Daisuke's shirt and vest. "You're bleeding."

"Bad?"

"Don't think so."

Daisuke shook his head. "C'mon, we've got to go on. Hikari needs us. Can you send a message to Koushiro-san? Tell him we're here but we need help with our D3s?"

Ken nodded, transferred the tired Wormmon to Daisuke's arms and started typing.

Tailmon ran back to them. "C'mon, Daisuke! I think I see where she is!"

"You can see here? Where?"

Tailmon pointed to the outcroppings of rock on the other side of the beach.

"I… I don't understand."

Tailmon jumped onto his shoulders and pointed his head. "There."

"The cave."

Vee looked at them suddenly. "Yeah! She'sh right, Daishuke-kun."

"We've found her?" Miyako asked.

"Maybe. C'mon!" Vee cried, and he and Tailmon bounded off.

"Vee!" Daisuke called out. "We're too tired to keep up!"

"Then catch up later!"

They were both running on all fours, and soon he and Tailmon were both out of sight. Daisuke sighed, and started walking again.

"Look at the clouds, Daisuke." Iori motioned.

Daisuke looked. They were nearly overhead. CRACK-BOOM!

"Crap." Ken swore. "It's sped up."

"We need to find cover," Daisuke offered.

"Shouldn't we stay out in the open?" Miyako asked.

Ken shook his head. "Sand is a terrific conductor of electricity, and this sand looks to be mainly iron."

TSEEWWW!

There was a bright blue flash ahead of them. They screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Daisuke realized he had quite a lot of energy left in him.

"No!" Ken cried. "To the trees!" He held his D3 out in front of him.

TSEEWWW! another bolt of lightning sliced through the air. It was followed by an incredible BANG as the air around it burned and exploded.

Daisuke ran, scared like never before. Electricity terrified him.

A bolt to his left. He lurched right, barely holding on to his balance and his D3.

TSEEWWW-BANG! right before him. His eyebrows singed and there was only bright blue for a moment. He cried out; so did Miyako. "Miyako!" Hawkmon cried out, but there was nothing he could do.

Daisuke's vision cleared. Ken was on the ground, and he rolled over hearing his name called. Daisuke started; there was a large gash that would need stitches above his right eye. Daisuke left Iori and Miyako to dive through the tree line and rushed over to his Jogress Partner.

"Wormmon!" Ken cried, and Daisuke saw that the insect was near the tide. Daisuke ran over, jumping this way, that way, and grabbed Wormmon. Ken ran into the dark forest and was lost to the black.

Daisuke ran like he'd never run before. It was a minefield-anywhere he stepped could explode under his feet, except that the danger would come from above. Fifty feet.

There was a bang behind him. Twenty feet. The air around him was on fire, it seemed, it was so hot, from the explosive bolts filling the shoreline. The sand was exploding and melting and crystallizing. Twenty feet. More explosions.

Daisuke's lungs were on fire. He couldn't breathe. He was sweating, his skin was charring, he was sure. Fifteen feet.

Daisuke never heard the bang.

He never saw the explosion of plasma in front of himself.

All he knew was that he was lying on his back, half deaf, half blind, half dead. He was seeing stars, but the clouds above were thick and black. Everything was quiet. The others were gone; Wormmon was presumably thrown during the blast-he wasn't anywhere within Daisuke's limited range of senses. Veemon and Tailmon knew probably nothing about any of this. Daisuke felt happy for the lot of them. There was sand in his clothing, hair, lungs.

Everything was quiet.

Daisuke wiped his face clean and for the first time stared straight up at the sheet-lightning-strewn thunderhead. No stars here; not even any in front of his face. He watched as the deadly clouds rolled and brewed, and started hearing faint rumblings as bolt after bolt sliced through the air and bore into the ground.

"I'm going to die."

He couldn't hear his own voice. "I'M GOING TO DIE!"

He laughed.

At least there was no fear. He was about to die, but didn't care. The others would find Hikari, they would all be happy, and, yes, they would eventually find his charred body, and yes, they would grieve, but their lives would go on. Well, as long as his body wasn't incinerated.

The sky lit up. It blinded him with blue light for half a second. Daisuke knew sheet lightning. It lit up a patch of the sky, rather than striking anything in particular. He didn't care.

From the blue came a glow, while the thunder that followed continued reverberating for a couple dozen seconds.

And from that glow came a figure.

Pointed horns.

Silver medallion.

Hidden face.

Purple robe, purple hood, purple shoes. For a second, nothing else moved, and Daisuke thought it a dream.

Then the wind picked up and the ground started shaking and the thunder started rumbling and he could suddenly hear screams.

"Daisuke!" It was Ken! He was there to rescue Daisuke!

"Daisuke! Where are you?!"

Daisuke gulped.

No one would help him now.

He would have to face Daemon alone.

And there was nothing but fear.

---

To be continued.